Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and the Chicken Reported to Rise Again

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Al-Yafi'i preserves a classical account about Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah have mercy on him, and a woman who entrusted her spiritually inclined son to his training. When she later found the young man weakened by hunger and night worship, eating barley bread, she objected after seeing the bones of an eaten chicken before the Shaykh. The report says the Shaykh placed his hand on the bones and addressed the chicken to rise by Allah's permission, whereupon it stood up whole and cried out. Ibn Hajar al-Haytami later cites the same revival report in his discussion of the Shaykh.

Al-Yafi'i preserves a classical story about Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah have mercy on him, and a woman whose son had become deeply attached to the Shaykh. Wanting the young man to follow a spiritual path under his guidance, she brought him to the Shaykh and entrusted him to his training. The report says that the young man was then directed toward disciplined spiritual struggle and worship.

After some time, the mother returned to see her son. She found him thin and pale from hunger and night vigil, eating a simple loaf of barley bread. The sight troubled her. When she then came before the Shaykh, she saw a vessel containing the bones of a boiled chicken that had already been eaten, and she objected to the contrast between what she had seen before him and the austere food of her son.

At that point, the report turns to its extraordinary scene. Al-Yafi'i relates that Shaykh Abd al-Qadir placed his hand on the bones and addressed the chicken with words meaning: “Rise by the permission of Allah, the One who gives life to decayed bones.” The wording itself places the act entirely under Allah's permission rather than attributing independent power to the Shaykh.

The account then says that the chicken rose whole and gave a cry. The mother had come questioning the difference between her son's severe discipline and what she had seen before the Shaykh; the reported revival becomes the answer around which the story turns. The Shaykh is then reported to have told her that when her son reached such a spiritual state, he too could eat what he wished.

Al-Yafi'i records the full account in Nashr al-Mahasin al-Ghaliya and introduces it as a well-known transmitted report. A later citation also connects the story with his Mir'at al-Jinan, and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami subsequently refers to the revival account while discussing reports associated with Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani.

The public story is therefore best kept in the form actually preserved by the classical sources: a mother entrusts her son to the Shaykh's training, questions the severity of his discipline, and witnesses the reported rising of the chicken after the Shaykh invokes Allah's permission. The narrative itself makes Allah's permission the central explanation for the extraordinary event.

Conclusion

The report remembers Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may Allah have mercy on him, placing his hand on the chicken bones and, by Allah's permission as stated in the source, the chicken being reported to rise whole again.

Sources

al-Yafi'i, Nashr al-Mahasin al-Ghaliya, report on Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
al-Yafi'i, Nashr al-Mahasin al-Ghaliya, same report
al-Yafi'i, Nashr al-Mahasin al-Ghaliya, same report
al-Yafi'i: قومي بإذن الله الذي يحيى العظام وهي رميم
al-Yafi'i, same report
al-Yafi'i: ومن المشهور ما روى مسندا من خمس طرق...
al-Amini, al-Ghadir, quoting al-Yafi'i, Mir'at al-Jinan 3/356
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyya, question 211
Arabic Collections Online catalog for al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyya
CAND-0252 chain audit synthesis
CAND-0252 taxonomy and publication-boundary synthesis